Paddington Bear Unit Study - Review

The Paddington Bear movie was a hit in our home both of them as a matter of fact.  So you can probably imagine my excitement when offered the opportunity to review the Paddington Bear lit-based unit study from Branch Out World.  I already knew which one of my children I wanted to use it with, my youngest son, who requested for us to watch the movie for his 9th birthday.  Although I was thrilled I wanted to be sure he was up for the challenge.   You see the last literature unit study he did he wasn't too fond of it.  He enjoys reading but he doesn't like to do a lot of writing unless it is absolutely necessary.  Well, when I asked him he said, "Ohh yes mama" so it was a go.  I will be sharing with you our feedback on this awesome home education resource.

What we Received

We received a digital copy of the Paddington Bear 69 page, lit-study from Branch Out World, which is apart of their Picture Book Explorers series.  

About Branch Out World

Branch Out World is a company based in the UK, created by a homeschooling mom, who has been homeschooling for over 20 years.  They create literature-based unit studies for home educating families and all of their books choices have a direct link to the UK in some way, the setting, the author, or the illustrator.

About the Paddington Bear Literature Study

The Paddington Bear unit study is 69 pages full of fun activities that will keep your child engaged all while still learning.  This is intended for ages 5-9, but it can be adjusted for older or younger children as well. The author gives helpful details to the parent on how to use the study before getting started.  I appreciated this!  It is recommended that you work on the study over the course of 5 days beginning each day by reading the entire book before starting the activities.  It's suggested that this is done in 5 consecutive days so that you keep your child's interest.  There are several activities for each day, but you do not have to do all the activities.  You have the freedom to pick and choose which ones you want to do for that day.   The days are lined out as...

Day 1 Exploring the Setting - this is where a lot of map work take place.  Your history and geography.

Day 2 Exploring the Words - this is where the vocabulary and parts of speech are discussed

Day 3 Exploring the Pictures - this is where they will study the pictures and talk about the artist

Day 4 Exploring Science - this is where they discuss bears and do a nature study

Day 5 Exploring Maths, Crafts & More - They will learn about lines, numbers, recipes, etc. on this day.

Please keep in mind there is a lot more covered in the days I just gave you a few so that you would have an idea of what was covered each day.

The Appendix has maps, flags, the timeline, facts sheets and more.

Branch Out World does an excellent job making this unit study relevant to the story and jammed pack with fun learning opportunities.  

How we used it

When I first received my pdf I ordered the recommended book from Amazon and to make it more fun I also ordered a Paddington Bear stuffed bear. 

He is excired to get started

 As I awaited our material I read over the study so that I would know what to expect.  I made sure to carefully read through the introduction and gather as much as the needed supplies as possible.  There was nothing major just things likes travel brochures, scissors, glue, drawing material, items to cook with, paints, etc.  The hardest thing for me to find was the travel brochures for England, London, and Peru so we made our own.  I just used a file folder and folded it.  He added things he learned about England and the mini books from the unit study each day.

We jumped right in once we received our book and bear.  I followed the study pretty much as instructed we just did not do all of the activities each day and that is only because we had a lot of other activities going on within our home.  However, if it wasn't for that we would have totally done them all, that is just how much he enjoyed them!

Just a sneak peek at how each day looked for us.  

Before we started we always cuddled up somewhere and I read the book aloud to him.

Day 1 We located Peru and England on our world map and discussed how far Padding traveled.  My son colored the flags for Peru and England.  He also worked on a mini book.

Day 2 one of the things I like about day 2 was discussing a theme in the story.  We talked about ways the characters helped each other and then was asked different questions about how my son has helped others and others helped him.  These question required him to think and they were done verbally so it made for a great opportunity to just sit and talk about the importance of helping others in a time of need.  

Day 3 one of my highlights from day 3 is something we never really done before with a book, picture study.  I had my son study the picture suggested in the guide for about 1 minute after the time was up I closed the book and had him describe to me what was on the picture and then he drew his own version of what he thought.  The study guide suggests that you do not correct your child as they are describing the picture, but instead after they are finished let them look at the picture and make their own corrections.

My son has a photographic memory so he described the picture back to me with great detail.

Studying the picture

Day 4  Our favorite part from day 4 was the discussion about the Andean Bear.  He enjoyed the shaving cream science experiment but really loved learning more about the kind of bear species Paddington was. 

Watching a short video about Andean Bears

Day 5  he enjoyed packing his suitcase for a vacation.  He was asked if he was going on vacation and had to pack his own suitcase what would he pack.  He also enjoyed watching some more videos on Andean Bears.

Trying to figure out what to pack

We plan on spending some time over the weekend watching Paddington 1 and 2 while enjoying some toast and homemade marmalade.

Our Final Thoughts

I asked my son what he thought about the unit study itself, not the book.  He said, "It's fun! I like the activities where I was able to cut and glue things.  I am happy that there is not a lot of writing but more reading and hands-on activities.  I was happy to get my Paddington Bear and book.  I wish he came with a luggage. (mom here, that has nothing to do with the unit study LOL) I would recommend this to all of my friends because it is fun!"

Close up of the new words envelope

Mom thoughts

I love the way this unit study not only kept my son engage but me as well.  The activities seem endless!  I love the fact that we are able to pick and choose which ones we want to do without it throwing the entire unit study off.   The study is based out of the UK so they used words like "Maths" and "colour" and "holiday" instead of vacation.  This made for great dialogue for my son and myself as to how British English is different from our English and how neither way is wrong just a different way.  I found myself reading the instruction with a British accent which we both thought I did not do such a good job at.  I would definitely recommend this literature-based unit study to families with kids ages 5-12.

I enjoyed this unit study from Branch Out World, Picture Book Explorers series, so much that I am already ordering another one, as soon as he decides which story he would like to read.

I hope you enjoyed this review as much as we enjoyed the product itself.  Once you are done here please stop by and see what other moms are saying about the Paddington Bear unit study by clicking the banner below.


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